Painted Lady

A Painted Lady ,Mewslade valley

Red Kite down light

 Taking a slow drive along Llanridian marsh hoping to catch up with the Marsh Harrier that my father got to see earlier . A raptor approached along the marsh , it was hard to see directly down light even as it flew past close the car , no good photo opportunity arose
The fork tail will always give away a Kite though,
When in Wales , Red  Kites are always a target species

Llanelli WWT

Id traveled from west Ireland by car and ferry to my homeland in Wales, the sun was out and I was approaching  Swansea west when we recieved a text from my father
 : Meet me in Llanelli wetland centre :
A delightful place built for wildlife and people to share. Plenty of gadwall , Grey herons and Dragonflies were on view from the hides
A large flock of Greylag Geese were out on the marsh ,viewable from the look out tower

The hides and viewing areas (indoor and out) were quite an experience.

This place is loaded with information and education and a very attractive place for the children to indulge in  their introduction to wildlife

Grey Heron

Gadwall

A Curlew walk off

Over the years I have never had much luck in getting any decent Curlew photos.
Such a wary species of bird , they dont seem to take to any human activity whatsoever.
This fella was close to the road at Doonbeg , still by the time you stop,window down ,camera up it was already walking off

Common Sandipers

Four Common Sandpipers were  moving around the shores of Clahane , small and flighty , they have a massive natural instinct for danger awareness , they seem to know where you are .... before you do.

Clahane Shorebirds

 Its was nice to spend a bit of time at my local patch ,
Shorebirds like Greenshank ,Common Sandpipers ,Redshank ,Turnstone and Golden Plover are arriving along the coast .
A Mediteranean Gull was roosting up on the hightide with Common ,Black-headed and Herring Gulls
A pair of Ravens passed through along the cliff range and a Sparrowhawk passed low over the seasweed up the cliff and off over the fields hunting.
It wouldnt be Clahane without a few Rock Pipits

 

Surfers in need of waves

After a long summer of very little in the way of surf in Lahinch, a swell was tracked for a few days prior.
Its time to blow of the cobwebs
During the day most of the local surfers would have gotten into the water in need of waves.

Ruffs at Seafield

 A dull overcast morning at Seafield
A few Ruff  and a single Curlew Sandpiper wade through the shoreline with the smaller peeps ,the busy feeding allowed me quite close in on the wet sand.

Ruff,
Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin and Sanderling

Chough flock and deck chairs

Spending the morning at the Bridges of Ross seawatching where the highlights for me were a few Black Terns a number of Bonxies and some very impressive deck chairs.

At midday I took a walk down into the Fodry at Loop Head, there was a decent flock of Choughs that were swirling along the cliffs edges , there were about 28 birds in this flock.

wildflower collage

My little monthly nature column in the North Clare local newspaper got an extra page this month.

A nice collage of local wildflowers

ps...Its a Dog Rose

Marsh fragrant Orchids - Burren

A few Marsh fragrant Orchids are on  show into August near Fahee north , Carron

Some contained some heavy  purple flowering while others were light pink in colour

                                 

Doolin Pier - A new view !

From time to time people; for whatever view or reason from all over walks of life, may it be while within the work place talk within the  surfing community ,travelling , Facebook ,or YouTube with ask me :
"What does Doolin Pier look like now" .